Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

Ashley

T his was the worst drive she’d had with Carter so far. It was silent with only the dull thrum of the car for company.

“Can you check that?” Carter pointed at his phone.

“Sure.” She reached for it, happy to have something to do. “Matt sent over information on the two other bodyguards. One’s kinda cute.”

Okay, that was petty of her, but she wasn’t lying. He was the one that wanted nothing to do with her after kissing her.

Carter grunted. “Read me what he sent?”

She read out the stats and backgrounds of the other men.

“Doable.”

“Matt is typing.” She watched the dots pop up and then disappear a few times before she read the message.

Matt: What did Ashley log into from the tablet and phone?

Ashley: E-books.

Matt: Looks like those logins sent alerts to her email and those alerts have been read. Did she check her messages?

She paled. The blood drained from her face and settled as a hard knot in her stomach.

“What’s going on?” Carter asked.

“Julian must have access to my emails. He got the login alerts and opened them for my e-books.”

Carter sighed. “Well, you won’t be able to login anymore. Anything in your email that he shouldn’t see?”

She thought about it. “Not that I can think of.”

“Good. Tell Matt to change all your passwords.”

Ashley: No. Change all the passwords, please?

Matt: This Ashley?

Ashley: Yes. Carter is driving.

Matt: You sure you didn’t login to anything else?

Ashley: No. I used Carter’s login to set up the tablet and the phone because it wouldn’t let me make a new email without logging in first.

Matt: Good. I’ll change all your passwords, but don’t login to anything until I say otherwise.

Like she was going to? Hard pass.

“We can stop when we get to town and get you something to read, or you can buy some books on my account.” Carter didn’t look over at her.

It pained her to rationalize that this man who was thinking about her wants and not just her safety was the same one that had pushed her away last night. “It’s not that serious. Hopefully, this won’t be too much longer.”

“Even if it’s just a day. I don’t have cable or anything there because I’m not there enough to use it, so you’ll want something to do.”

So much for the horses. Sounded like he was just going to leave her locked in the house while they were there. She had the right to complain, really. He was trying to keep her safe and that had started out as hard to swallow, but she wasn’t going to make his job harder anymore.

“Whatever,” she said and put his phone back in the cradle.

“What now?” Carter asked. “I can’t make sense of you. One minute, you’re talking to me, and the next you seem to hate everything.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Who are you to talk? One minute, you’re kissing me, and the next you’re regretting it.”

“Don’t do that. You’ll thank me for stopping that one day. But that’s not what just happened.”

“You don’t know what it is, so how are you so sure it isn’t?” She folded her arms across her chest.

That muscle in his jaw ticked again. “Because we weren’t even talking about that.”

“I just wasn’t aware that I would need something to do the whole time we were there. You mentioned horses and going on a ride, but now I guess we aren’t.”

“Did I say that?”

“No. You talked about cable TV and books, two very indoor things.”

“Because you can’t read outside?” His grip on the steering wheel was tight enough to turn his knuckles white. “Should we go for a ride? Absolutely not. Will I take you? Yes. But first we need to make sure people are looking out for us because I don’t want that fucker sneaking up.”

“No need to stress over it. I wasn’t even going to say anything until you pressed me. Don’t want to force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“Dammit, Ashley.”

“What?” she snapped. “It’s not a big deal. I can go ride a horse somewhere else when this is over. No need to put yourself out about it.”

“I said I would take you and I will. Do you not know how hard this is for me, too? You’re important enough for me to bring you to MY house, Ashley. I’m just trying to keep you safe.”

“And your chastity,” she muttered.

“What? You have no idea what you really want, and I’m not going to be a part of that problem.”

“I don’t? That’s rich coming from someone that’s only here because they didn’t know what they wanted to do.”

“At least I’m honest about it. I’m not trying to fit myself into some stupid mold that I don’t want to be a part of. I was in the military, I wanted out, so I got out. What about you? What have you done that you wanted?”

That stung a little more than she would’ve liked because it meant it was too close to the truth.

He blew out a breath. “I’m sorry. I really am. That was uncalled for.”

She wouldn’t let him shoulder the blame alone when she knew she’d had a part in it. “Me too. I goaded you into that and it was wrong of me.”

“I know we need to have a conversation soon about us, but can we just call a truce until we get home? I need to focus on the road and making sure this slippery guy isn’t following us.”

Annoyed with herself and him, she agreed. “Okay.”

“Good.” He pointed at the radio. “Turn something on for us and just relax.”

Relax? Ha. But she did turn the radio on and find a station. It was pop music, and she was pretty sure he wouldn’t like it, but it was what she listened to.

Two songs later, she was pleasantly surprised as Carter started to sing along with her. It was hilarious as they went down the road, both belting one of the latest girl group songs. He laughed along with her when she started a bit too soon at one part.

“This is nice,” she commented, unable to enjoy the moment without making sure he was, too.

“It is,” he told her.

Content for the first time today, she leaned back as the song changed and watched the scenery. The miles quickly passed as the tension in the car eased. Without all the stress, she did finally relax some.

There was still the conversation that was pending between them, but she didn’t want to do it while he was driving either. With no other choice, she pushed it from her mind and let it go.

Around lunchtime, they stopped at a fast-food place and got something to eat and used the restroom. She hadn’t eaten so much greasy food in a long time and would be happy to get to a place to cook something.

She ordered a salad as a last resort, and Carter made a face. She questioned it, but not out loud. Turns out he was right. It was gross and clearly not fresh. Thankfully, the man had known it wouldn’t be good and had ordered something else for her.

“That was brave,” he commented as he handed her fries and a burger.

“What?”

“Ordering a salad from here. Nothing about this place screams it would have a good salad.” He wrinkled his nose as she handed him the uneaten salad to throw away.

“I am so tired of fast food,” she admitted. “I’m not complaining. It’s not like we have a choice.”

He raised an eyebrow at her.

“Well, I’m not complaining about you. It’s not your fault we are stuck eating this.”

“Hard to please, huh?”

“Oh, like you wouldn’t prefer a home-cooked meal right about now? Something with a lot less grease and in a kitchen that we didn’t question when the last health inspection was?”

Carter threw his head back as he laughed out loud. “It could be worse. There’s always gas station sushi.”

She groaned. “I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.”

They both ate their food, and Carter tossed the trash out before they hit the restrooms and were on their way again.

Ashley stretched her legs out in front of her and shifted. Getting out of the car was her new goal and she didn’t care where. A long walk would be amazing, as well as a long yoga session that stretched all of her muscles.

“Not much longer,” Carter said out of nowhere a few hours later.

“Thank God,” she commented.

“Anxious to get out of the car?”

“I’m not a very sedentary person. Again, it is not your fault. I just need to move some.”

“Wasn’t taking it personally. I will be happy to get out of this car, too.”

“At least you’ll be home,” she told him. “So that’s a lot more comfortable.”

“Do you think you won’t be comfortable there?”

“Not that. I just mean you get the familiarity of being home. Something about that has to give you a deep sense of relief. I’m a guest again, one that brings a lot of problems that you have chosen to bring to your front door.”

“It’s not like that,” he said.

“Hmm,” was her response.

“Seriously. It’s different.”

“You aren’t trouble right now, Ashley. I wouldn’t bring you here if I thought it would be a big problem.”

She didn’t reply. He could say what he wanted, but it was going to be a problem. The bottom line was she was going to be an unwelcome guest if Julian wasn’t caught soon.

Mentally, she went through things she could do to stay out of his way. Maybe she’d have one of the other bodyguards go with her on some long walks that would give Carter a lot of space.

She needed the space from him, too. Still confused over the kiss and his sudden change of heart, she didn’t want to make things harder on him.

During all this time, she’d gone and gotten feelings for the jerk. Now that they’d found the time to talk, her steam had deflated, and she wasn’t going to push him.